Allow specialist doctors trained overseas to practise in Hong Kong to ease staffing crisis, former Hospital Authority chairman Anthony Wu says
- Wu says doctors trained at world’s top 50 or 100 medical schools should be allowed to practise in city without taking another exam
- Full registration in Hong Kong currently requires foreign-trained doctors to do extra licensing exam and internship of more than one year
Specialist doctors trained at top overseas medical schools should be allowed to work in Hong Kong without examination if they have parents from the city, a former chairman of the Hospital Authority has said.
The proposal, which came amid a staffing crisis in Hong Kong’s public health care system, was floated by Anthony Wu Ting-yuk – now a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – on Friday.
He said there was no need to make experienced doctors from overseas sit another round of licensing exams.
“When some doctors have already reached a certain level overseas, which is recognised worldwide, why do we need them to come back for another exam?” Wu asked, as he raised his proposal on a radio programme.
Hong Kong’s public health care system has long been plagued by staff shortages, particularly during the flu season peaks, when thousands cram into accident and emergency departments.
To attract more overseas doctors to Hong Kong, the government allows them to practise without taking a licensing exam, for no more than three years, under a limited registration scheme.